Configuration settings, pertinent to the operation of a network element, are often stored in registers and/or memory tables, within a network processor, which can be manipulated by one or more processes. Further, in said registers and/or memory tables, changes are only permitted to be performed a table row at a time. Non-overlapping data subsets, relevant to different processes, may represent the data within a table row. A challenge, more so, arises when a subset of data is to be changed without affecting the remainder subset(s) of data in the table row.